Ornamental railing



Dec. 19, 1967 I L. BLUM ET AL ORNAMENTAL RAILING 5 Sheets-Sheet l FiledDec. 15, 1965 INVENTORS- 10111545711122 J2. Ila/ml Hagan, J1: 8J5 62A ATZOHNE vs.

Dec. 19, 1967 1.. BLUM ET AL ORNAMENTAL RAILING 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledDec. 13, 1965 INVENTORJ'.

ATTORNEYS.

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INVENTORS.

la B11111: & 171 Jfialyalz, J1: BY GZJs 63A EiZiia Dec. 19, 1967 BLUM ETAL ORNAMENTAL RAILING 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 wwmw William J 1%! Filed Dec. 13,1965 9677 J1: BY

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United States Patent 3,358,969 ORNAMENTAL RAILING Louis Blum and WilliamJ. Horgan, In, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignors to Blumcraft of Pittsburgh,Pittsburgh, Pa.,

2 firm Filed Dec. 13, 1965, Ser. No. 513,261 3 Claims. (Cl. 256-24)ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An ornamental railing adapted for mountingalongside a stairway or other building surface wherein the sole verticalsupporting means comprises a plurality of aligned glass panels.

This invention relates to ornamental railings and particularly toornamental railings in which the vertical supports comprise glasspanels. Glass panels have been used prior to this time in ornamentalrailings; however, they have been used for ornamentation rather than asvertical structural supports. By virtue of the present invention, it isproposed to provide ornamental railing structure in which the verticalsupport for the handrail comprises solely glass panels.

The new ornamental railing of the invention comprises glass panels whichprovide the sole vertical support, creating the illusion that thehandrail is floating in space free of any rigid structural support. Theglass panels are anchored into the fioor or stairway of a building.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stairway showing railings made inaccordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view partly in cross-section along the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view partly in cross-section and partly broken away alongthe line IIIHI of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view similar to FIG. 3 showing analternate means for mounting the railing;

FIG. 5 is a partial top view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view similar to FIG. 3 showing analternate means for mounting the railing;

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view similar to FIG. 3 showing analternate means for mounting the railing;

FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view similar to FIG. 3 showing analternate means for mounting the railing;

FIG. 9 is a partial sectional view similar to FIG. 3 showing analternate means for mounting the railing;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 showing anotherembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 11 is a view partly in cross-section along the line XI-XI of FIG.10;

FIG. 12 is a partial fragmentary view along the line XII-XII of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 showing anotherembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 14 is a partial fragmentary view along the line XIVXIV of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a partial fragmentary view along the line XV-XV of FIG. 13.

Railings embodying the invention are shown in FIGS. 1, 10 and 13. Takingfirst the railing of FIG. 1, the handrail 10 is mounted on top of theglass panels 11. The con- 3,358,969 Patented Dec. 19, 1967 nectionbetween the handrailing 10 and the glass 11 is best illustrated in FIG.3. A connecting strip 12 running longitudinally of the glass panel 11 isbonded thereto by means of an adhesive. The connecting strip 12 is inturn connected by screw 5 to the wooden handrail 10 completing theconnection between the handrail 10 and the glass panel 11. At the lowerportion of the glass panel 11 it is carried upon a mounting bracket 13which gives the appearance of passing through the glass panel 11. Themounting bracket 13 is supported upon an anchor 14 which is embedded inthe stairway or floor of the building. To the anchor 14 is afiixed bymeans of bolts 7 a connecting strip 6. A second connector strip 8 isconnected to the first strip 6 by means of additional bolts 9 providingfor adjustment between the two connecting strips. The mounting bracket13 is slidably connected to the connecting strip 8 by means of theinterengaged key-slot connection shown best in FIG. 2. The mountingbracket 13 embraces the glass panel 11 and is held thereto by means ofthe bolts 4 illustrated in FIG. 3.

Modifications of the means for mounting the glass panels on the floor orstairway are shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 in fragmentary views. In FIG. 4the mounting bracket 15 takes the place of the bracket 13 of FIG. 3.There the bracket 15 is afiixed to the underside of the wooden stairtread by means of the screws 16. FIG. 5 is a top view of the arrangementof FIG. 4. FIG. 6 illustrates a further modification of the means formounting the glass panel wherein the mounting bracket 17 is connected tothe anchor 18 by means of connector bolts 19. A further modification isshown in FIG. 7 where the mounting bracket 20 is connected directly tothe anchor 21. In FIG. 8 the mounting bracket 22 is connected to astructural beam 23. Another variation of the type of mounting is shownin FIG. 9 where the mounting bracket 24 is connected to the open channelof a channel beam 25.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 10-12 wherein thehandrail is connected to the glass panel in the manner previouslydescribed. Here, however, the glass panel 30 is mounted in a frame 31.The mounting frame 31 is a U-shaped structural member having a slot 32formed therein. The glass panel 30 fits within the slot 32 and is bondedthereto by an adhesive. The mounting frame 31 i connected to thebuilding by means of connecting brackets 33 which are in turn connectedto anchors 34 as shown more particularly in FIGS. 11 and 12. Other meansmay be used for connecting the mounting frame 31 to the structure of thebuilding employing the means illustrated in FIGS. 4-9.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 13-15 wherein theglass panels 40 are mounted directly upon or within the floor or side ofthe stair tread. In FIG. 14 one such structure is shown. There a slot 41is formed in the floor of the building. In the slot 41 a structuralreceiving member 42 is inserted. A mounting bracket 43 is rigidlyconnected to the member 42. The member 43 has a channel 44 formedtherein to receive the glass panel 40 along its lower edge. The glasspanel 40 is bonded to the slot by means of an adhesive. Anothervariation of this embodiment is shown in FIG. 15 where the members 42,43 and 44 are fixed directly to the surface of the floor.

Employing the means for connecting the rail to the glass panel and theseveral embodiments of structural means for mounting the glass panels tothe building shown herein, a railing is formed comprising a plurality ofglass panels which are connected along their lower edges by means of themounting brackets or other such means and along the common upper edgesby means of the handrail. This forms a unitary structure embodying thehandrail,

the glass panel and the mounting brackets which provides a railingstructure having sufiicient rigidity in strength to satisfy normalbuilding requirements.

It will be understood that many variations may be made in the specificembodiments of the invention illustrated herein without departing fromthe scope of the inven tion as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An ornamental railing comprising a continuous handrail, railingmounting means for connecting said handrail to a building structure andhandrail supporting means connecting said mounting means and saidhandrails comprising a plurality of aligned glass panels, said glasspanels supporting said handrail means, and bracket means rigidly affixedto the building structure retaining said glass panels in substantiallyrigid spaced relation to said building structure.

2. The ornamental railing of claim 1 wherein the mounting bracket meanscomprises a pair of spaced brackets having a first part rigidly affixedto the stairway or other building structure on the side of the glasspanel adjacent thereto, and a second part onthe side of the glass panelremote from the stairway or building structure, the two parts of themounting bracket being connected by bolt means.

3. The ornamental railing of claim 1 wherein the bracket means comprisesa channel member rigidly afiixed to said building structure.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,321,059 5/1967 Kroepel 25624534,545 2/1895 Breadner 256-24 X 1,462,622 7/1923 Phelan 52-5841,776,785 9/1930 Davidson 256 -24 2,618,145 11/1952 Sinner et a1. 52584X 2,771,259 11/ 1956 Laystrom 248-489 2,873,094 2/1959 Blum 256--313,265,417 8/1966 Kastan 52-582 X FOREIGN PATENTS 615,470 2/ 1961 Canada.

DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner.

DENNIS L. TAYLOR, Examiner.

1. AN ORNAMETAL RAILING COMPRISING A CONTINUOUS HANDRAIL, RAILINGMOUNTING MEANS FOR CONNECTING SAID HANDRAIL TO A BUILDING STRUCTURE ANDHANDRAIL SUPPORTING MEANS CONNECTING SAID MOUNTING MEANS AND SAIDHANDRAILS COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF ALIGNED GLASS PANELS, SAID GLASSPANELS SUPPORTING SAID HANDRAIL MEANS, AND BRACKET MEANS RIGIDLY AFFIXEDTO THE BUILDING STRUCTURE RETAINING SAID GLASS PANELS IN SUBSTANTIALLYRIGID SPACED RELATION TO SAID BUILDING STRUCTURE.